Hostile takeover bid for Casey's falls short

A hostile takeover bid for Casey's General Stores Inc. was extended today by Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. after an insufficient number of Casey's shareholders accepted the company's initial offer.

Couche-Tard extended the offer, which expired at midnight Friday, until 5 pm. August 6.

Canada-based Couche-Tard did not, however, raise its offer for the Ankeny-based convenience store operator. Only 9,792,196 shares of Casey's common stock, or 19.2 percent of all outstanding shares, were tendered in response to Couche-Tard's initial offer.

That brought a quick response from Casey's General Stores. The company snapped out a brief statement saying the shareholder response shows that shareholders recognize that the Couche-Tard offer undervalues Casey's.